Esmeralda Lira, 53, and Jose Balderas, 64, are each facing a charge for child endangerment after police officers conducted a welfare check.

Updated May 12 at 6:30 p.m.: Revised to include more details from a police affidavit.

A grandmother and her boyfriend were arrested Sunday after a 6-year-old boy was found in a shed in Pleasant Grove, Dallas police say.

Esmeralda Lira, 54(Dallas County jail)

Esmeralda Lira, 53, and Jose Balderas, 64, were charged with child endangerment after officers conducted a health and welfare check at a home in the 1100 block of Coston Drive about 11:15 p.m. Sunday, according to an affidavit.

Someone had reported to police that Lira had three children tied up at the home with no food, according to the affidavit.

When officers arrived, Lira allowed the officers inside the home, where they found two children asleep in a bedroom.

While trying to find the third child, officers went to the backyard and found a locked shed. When one of the officers knocked on the shed, a voice was heard from inside and heard a voice inside, the affidavit said.

Lira went to a nearby vehicle to retrieve keys to open the shed after initially saying she didn’t have them, according to the affidavit. When officers opened the door, they found the 6-year-old boy standing alone inside the pitch-black shed. His hands were tied behind his back with shoelaces, the affidavit said.

The boy was carried to safety and untied. He was not taken to a hospital after he was evaluated, police said.

Child Protective Services removed the boy from the home, along with the other two children, the affidavit said.

Jose Balderas, 64(Dallas County jail)

The child told detectives that Lira, his grandmother, tied him him up in the shed when he is bad, the affidavit said. He said he was usually locked in the shed at night until morning. On the night of the arrest, detectives determined the boy had been locked up in the shed about 10:30 p.m.

Detectives also learned that Lira bathed the boy outside by spraying him with water, according to the affidavit. The boy also told police he was given a plastic bag when he needed to relieve himself.

Balderas, Lira’s longtime boyfriend, was also arrested. According to the affidavit, he told police he was aware of the abuse but did not want to be a part of it. The boy had been locked in the shed for at least two weeks, Balderas told police.

According to jail records, Lira and Balderas each face a charge of abandoning or endangering a child with imminent danger of bodily injury. Each was being held with bail set at $100,000.

Sarah Burns of the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center said that because teachers make many child abuse reports, students learning from home during the pandemic may be at greater risk.

“Our concern has always been children being with their abusers all the time and having no safe adult to confide in or a safe adult that can report that abuse,” she said.

The Advocacy Center has seen a 50% decrease in reports in the last six weeks, compared with the six weeks leading up to the pandemic.

LaVendrick Smith. LaVendrick Smith is a breaking news reporter for The Dallas Morning News. He joined The News in October 2018, and was previously a reporter for The Charlotte Observer. He graduated from the University of Washington in 2016.

Nataly Keomoungkhoun, Engagement reporter. Nataly is the lead writer on Curious Texas. She is a D-FW native with a B.A. in emerging media and communication from the University of Texas at Dallas and an M.S. in journalism from the University of Southern California. She also likes art, a lot.